“Where?” Kaja asked.
He pointed upwards. “Follow the bird, like before.”
And so they did. The hawk guided their way through the forested part of the vale, deeper within the lands of the Shadow Sisters. As they travelled, the sky darkened. The reds bruised to purple before deepening further to blue.
The woods ended, and they cautiously stepped out into the open. Cliff faces rose to either side of them, their drops as sheer as the one they had scaled only hours before. Exhaustion weighed on Aloisia, her ribs throbbing in time with her heartbeat. The thought of the journey back to Littlewatch made her want to cry, but she steeled herself against it.
Ten feet before them, the hawk came to rest upon a crop of stones at the base of one rock face.
“Are we there?” Aloisia asked.
“I sincerely hope so.” Inari picked up his pace, Kaja following behind.
Hope pushed Aloisia to match their gaits, despite her pain. As they drew closer, a craggy hole in the cliff became visible.
“A cavern?” Kaja examined the entrance.
The hawk cried again, flapping its wings.
“I think this is it,” Inari said. “Whatever lies at the end of the map, whatever answers we may be provided are within this cave.”
Once again, Aloisia longed to have her bow. As it stood, she would have to make do with the concealed dagger in her boot, the only weapon she had left.
Kaja turned back to them, drawing her own concealed blade. “Ready?”
Aloisia gave a nod, tightening her grip on her dagger.
As they entered the cave, darkness swiftly enveloped them until any light remaining from the day drained away completely. A snap echoed and fire burst to life in Inari’s palm, lighting the surrounding walls. The stone was slick beneath Aloisia’s feet, and the drip of water sounded in the distance.
Inari led the way through the tunnel, holding the flame cupped in his hand to light their path. A glint of red caught Aloisia’s attention, and she grasped Inari’s arm, pulling the flame closer to the wall.
“Runes,” Inari said, examining the large markings scrawled across the walls of the cavern.
Aloisia reached out to it. “A spell?”
“Yes.” Inari caught her wrist before she made contact. “A vicious one at that.”
“We ought to tread carefully then,” Kaja said. “I don’t want to be on the receiving end of it.”
“I don’t think we have to worry about that.” His brow furrowed as he read further along the wall.
To Aloisia, it looked like the same markings repeated over and over, as far as the eye could see. “What does it say?” she asked.
“Ikka: to bind.Mas: to break.Möt: to awaken.” He pointed to each in turn, the pattern recurring, each in the same order.
“And the spell?”
“All of this, and it is concentrated on one thing,” Inari mused, following the markings further down the tunnel.
Aloisia and Kaja trailed behind him, following the light of Inari’s flame. He murmured something under his breath, and the intensity of the flame brightened, casting light upon more of the cave. The runes were scrawled everywhere, across the walls, above their heads.
“But what does it mean?” Aloisia asked.
“What we have been led to, someone wanted to keep it here. Rather fiercely.Ikkais self-explanatory – it binds whatever is here, whatever is the subject of the spell.Masserves to weaken it, whilstMötserves to strengthen. Whoever set this spell had a very specific outcome in mind. And I would not be surprised if what lies within this cavern possesses a great deal of power – magical power. And this spell likely aims to deplete said power from the subject and transfer it to the host.”
“Is it possible this is how the Forgotten Gods are gaining strength?”
“Anything is possible. Though I would be surprised if there were multiple hosts, like the Forgotten Gods. This spell seems to be concentrated more on two separate things: one subject, one host.”
